Brown bin complaint heading for Local Government Ombudsman

Neighbours fighting charges for garden waste collections are taking their complaint to a council watchdog.

Neighbours fighting charges for garden waste collections are taking their complaint to a council watchdog.

Members of Sandhurst Residents’ Association (SRA) have decided to escalate their issues with Bracknell Forest Council’s brown bin collections after reaching the final stage of its complaints procedure.

The association is putting together a complaint for the Local Government Ombudsman after it claims the council breached its contract over garden waste.

It believes the council broke a contractual agreement with people who paid a one-off £30 fee for a brown bin, when they decided to introduce a collection charge.

SRA’s secretary David Vousden said they are determined to see the complaint through as a ‘matter of principle’.

He said: “We completely understand that in such difficult times, the council need to get money from somewhere. But this is a matter of principle, more than anything. If you create a contract, you should keep to it.”

Letters have been moving the argument back and forth between the council and the association, which has put all its correspondence with the council on its website.

Mr Vousden said: “It’s been a bit like a tennis match.

“We’ve had a good response from residents through email and other means telling us to keep it up.”

Bracknell Forest Council chiefs have denied breaching a contract since SRA’s complaint was lodged in July this year.

In a letter to Mr Vousden, Bracknell Forest Council chief executive Timothy Wheadon judged the council had acted ‘fairly and properly’ when it introduced charges for disposing of garden waste.

He said: “The council’s legal advisers have confirmed that the selling of brown bins to residents bestowed no contractual commitment to continually empty those bins at no charge.

“The traditional offer, acceptance and consideration from contract law applied only to the provision of the bin itself.

“I am afraid I see no justification in recommending to councillors they rescind the charges.”